You Say You Want a Miracle?

This is actually a commentary on managers and customers who have watched a lot of TV and therefore think anything should be possible in 15 minutes; because the A Team, McGyver, and Abbie Scuto can put anything together in 15 minutes. In the real world, things created by people take real time.

This is particularly true of software: Everyone's seen how Abbie and Tim McGee can put together any needed software in seconds. Real software requires levels of effort on the order of that required to assemble buildings. A large-scale software project can require an outlay of effort similar to that of building a skyscraper. (You want it when?)

But some people are not bothered by reality.

You Say You Want a Miracle?

If you want a miracle but you are asking for it from any human agency
then you have approached the wrong organization, because miracles just happen. They appear, fully formed, without any detectable causes.

Human agencies can only produce results; occasionally poor, frequently excellent, sometimes even superb. But results are made to happen by detectable causes, such as expenditure of human effort and resources (whether monetary or natural).

If what you want is a miracle, go home tonight and kneel before the
supreme being, praying that the building you want built, the report you
want written or the job you want done will miraculously appear fully
formed with no detectable origin when you walk into your office tomorrow
morning.

But, if you have to depend on the humble agencies of humanity, expect
the job to take time, money and human effort rather than appearing fully
formed at the instant of your conception with no delay, no expense and
no personnel required.